I first saw the USFA ZiP .22 on USFAs website and it immediately caught my attention. Why? Well, for starters it is uniquevery unique. It captures the imagination, finding something truly new in firearms development is a bit of a rarity. John Browning and Paul Mauser can still say that most firearms are mere modifications of designs they pioneered 100 years ago. So on that merit alone, I wanted to check out this pistol.

Secondly, being mainly polymer and uber-lightweight, this gun fills a niche for the survival crowd. It would fit easily in a backpack, truck or tackle box, and could be carried as an emergency survival gun without any undue weight.

Finally, it is versatile. It takes Ruger 10/22 magazines (I mean, who already doesnt own a 10/22 and a plethora of mags?), and with the Ruger 25-round mags, it makes this pistol one of the few handguns on the market with a 25-round capability. In light of the recent fervor coming from the gun-grabbers in Washington, owning multiple guns that take the same high-cap mags might not be such a bad idea. This gun can also be converted into a rifle, and can be used in conjunction with other firearms with a standard 1913 Railall NFA rules do apply, of course.

So I literally begged Douglas Donnelly, USFA CEO and inventor of ZiP, for a test sample before the masses could get their hands on it at SHOT Show. He came through, so here is my brief review.

Saw several YouTube reviews from SHOT Show 2013, and I must say I don't get it. It's an ergonomic nightmare as a handgun, and I don't get the fun factor or practicality of paying an SBR stamp to hang it under your AR.

If I think of it as an updated version of the Henry “Survivor” .22, then it makes sense. Sort of a “better than nothing” weapon to keep in the backpack/BOB. They are relatively cheap too ... just over $200 with a 10/22 25 round mag.

9
posted on 01/20/2013 6:06:54 AM PST
by spodefly
(This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)

I don’t see this a self defense gun by any stretch. Looks to be more useful for stuffing in a backpack or as a survival gun where weight is a factor. If it’s reliable and accurate it would probably be as good a choice as the old Armalite AR-7 (now made by Henry Firearms).

We have been suffering with the infringements of NFA for far too long. Suppressors are mainstream now and cost a bundle to save ears, among other things.

The farther we travel from 1986 and the impact of the govt picking winners and losers in the machine gun game, the higher the prices of machine guns will go and the fewer manufacturers there will be.

Not to mention the now yearly reduction in the severely limited number of available machine guns for public purchase. Or to put it better, we the people are now outgunned in small arms, by the mere passage of time and those the second amendment seeks to protect us from, grow ever stronger in relation.

Saw several YouTube reviews from SHOT Show 2013, and I must say I don't get it. It's an ergonomic nightmare as a handgun, and I don't get the fun factor or practicality of paying an SBR stamp to hang it under your AR.

YES! YES! and YES! This is the answer to a question NOBODY asked! Useless as two rows of teats on a boar hog! It sucks hard as a "handgun" and even harder as a Federally licensed short barreled rifle. Everybody is an "operator" now days and you've just gotta hang some kind of worthless crap off of all those rails you paid extra money for. Someone ought to invent a set of wheels that attaches to a Picatinny rail...at least that would be useful to roll that mobile garage sale you call a rifle to the range!

Don’t know about the ergonomy, but it’s kinda reminiscent of what the FN P90 was meant to be (the original design had a 100rd throwavay box mag w caseless rounds), and the p90, I’m told, is pretty good.

Maybe your TEC-22 is defective. The one my shooting buddy has works PERFECTLY and we shoot it all the time. We haven’t tried the new BX-25 magazines in it yet but if the old RamLine mags function so well there’s no need to assume that the higher quality BX-25 wouldn’t work perfectly too. I predict they’ll be out of business within a year IF they ever even ship ANY in the first place. Time will tell.

Maybe your TEC-22 is defective. The one my shooting buddy has works PERFECTLY and we shoot it all the time. We havent tried the new BX-25 magazines in it yet but if the old RamLine mags function so well theres no need to assume that the higher quality BX-25 wouldnt work perfectly too. I predict theyll be out of business within a year IF they ever even ship ANY in the first place. Time will tell.

I suspect the TEC-22s had a quality control issue. (Dies or molds wearing out in manufacturing process.) In most cases the fussy ones could be tweaked to function reliably with a given brand of mag. The typical problem was the mag would be loose in the receiver and cause feeding issues. Same problem when Armalite quit making the AR-7 and Charter Arms started making it. Many of the Charter Arms version had feeding problems due to sloppy tolerances.

The thing that really worries me about this design are the two plungers over the barrel. Especially the re-strike plunger. I’m not so sure I want to put my hand that close to the end of the barrel after a rimfire round has decided not to go bang.

It may “only” be a .22, but I’m pretty sure it will take the tip of my finger clean off if I accidentally cover the muzzle when the round decides to fire.

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